Special Hobby Aircraft 1/72 WWII CAC CA9 Wirraway Trainer Aircraft Kit
The Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation A-20 Wirraway (aboriginal for “challenge”) was a World War II training and general purpose military aircraft manufactured in Australia between 1939 and 1946. The Wirraway was an Australian development of the North American NA-16 training aircraft, better known at the AT-6 Texan or SNJ. The Wirraway’s origin stems from a 1936 overseas evaluation mission of three Royal Australian Air Force officers led by Wing Commander Lawrence Wackett, charged with selecting an aircraft type for local production in Australia. They selected the North American NA-16, and production licenses were subsequently obtained in 1937. The decision reportedly caused some consternation in the British Parliament, due to the fact that no British aircraft was selected.
During World War II, the Wirraway served as the basis for the design of Australia’s emergency fighter, the Boomerang. The Wirraway itself was also pressed into service as a fighter, reconnaissance and ground support aircraft, and trainer. The first Wirraways in combat were RAAF 24 Squadron aircraft sent to Rabaul, New Guinea to defend against the Japanese invasion in January 1942. In their first engagement over Rabaul on January 6, eight Wirraways intercepted over 100 Japanese bombers and fighters attacking the city, resulting in the destruction or severe damage of all but two of the Australian planes. This highlights the desperate situation the Australians faced in the early part of the Pacific War and the reason the Wirraway was pressed into service against such long odds. At that stage, the Allies, in general, were grabbing whatever they could get their hands to throw at the Japanese.
Other units saw combat in Malaya, East India and Darwin, Australia, but the Wirraway achieved its greatest fame in the ground support and reconnaissance roles against the Japanese in New Guinea. There were many examples of Wirraways being pressed into air-to-air combat against Japanese fighters with disastrous results, but in one particularly famous encounter, on December 12, 1942, Pilot Officer J. S. Archer shot down a Japanese A6M Zero aircraft after he spotted it 1000 feet below him and dived on it, opening fire and sending the Zero hurtling into the sea. This is the only documented occasion that a Wirraway shot down another aircraft. From 1943 on, the Wirraway was restricted to training duties with the arrival of Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation’s new Boomerang fighter, and the American Curtiss P-40. The RAAF and Royal Australian Navy continued to fly the Wirraway long after the end of WWII. The type was finally retired from active service in 1959.
During World War II, the Wirraway served as the basis for the design of Australia’s emergency fighter, the Boomerang. The Wirraway itself was also pressed into service as a fighter, reconnaissance and ground support aircraft, and trainer. The first Wirraways in combat were RAAF 24 Squadron aircraft sent to Rabaul, New Guinea to defend against the Japanese invasion in January 1942. In their first engagement over Rabaul on January 6, eight Wirraways intercepted over 100 Japanese bombers and fighters attacking the city, resulting in the destruction or severe damage of all but two of the Australian planes. This highlights the desperate situation the Australians faced in the early part of the Pacific War and the reason the Wirraway was pressed into service against such long odds. At that stage, the Allies, in general, were grabbing whatever they could get their hands to throw at the Japanese.
Other units saw combat in Malaya, East India and Darwin, Australia, but the Wirraway achieved its greatest fame in the ground support and reconnaissance roles against the Japanese in New Guinea. There were many examples of Wirraways being pressed into air-to-air combat against Japanese fighters with disastrous results, but in one particularly famous encounter, on December 12, 1942, Pilot Officer J. S. Archer shot down a Japanese A6M Zero aircraft after he spotted it 1000 feet below him and dived on it, opening fire and sending the Zero hurtling into the sea. This is the only documented occasion that a Wirraway shot down another aircraft. From 1943 on, the Wirraway was restricted to training duties with the arrival of Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation’s new Boomerang fighter, and the American Curtiss P-40. The RAAF and Royal Australian Navy continued to fly the Wirraway long after the end of WWII. The type was finally retired from active service in 1959.
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